Eats of Eden

Eats of Eden is a trip into the memory, into the stomach, and into the heart of every woman. These essays of tasty bites, writing, coming-of-age, family, sex, self-esteem — and above all, overcoming personal odds to live your best life — are complete with mouth-watering recipes and memories that will change your relationship with food forever. From self-identity to love affairs with the sinking of the Titanic to cheese snobbery to reconciling the unanswered questions of a lost friendship, the home-loving socialite at the heart of this memoir dishes and dines on fashion, feminism, fabulousness, and food.

Eats of Eden follows a year of attempting to write a novel, and the daily life, occasional revelations and passions that feed, distract, complicate, and enrich that process — in the author’s case, constant detours into the kitchen. It’s a book about writing, eating, and surviving in the modern west, from literary hustling at the Doug Fir Lounge, to waiting for life-altering emails around a stew-cooking campfire at Crater Lake.

“This collection — complete with recipes — comes together like a satisfying and well-balanced meal.” Sarah Einstein, AWP Prize in Creative Nonfiction award-winning author of Mot

Tabitha Blankenbiller is an essay writer living a smidge outside of Portland, Oregon. Her essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Tin House, Catapult, The Rumpus, Longreads, Narratively, Hobart, Volume 1, and a number of other venues. Her debut collection is Eats of Eden.